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Statement on President Carter’s Health

cartercenter.org

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Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#81

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

Waterluvian wrote: post #60
version_five wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related is the fact that most people who would be good politicians want nothing to do with politics and most that go into politics are the worst people to represent us. While i know it's too idealistic, I wish there could be some jury duty style model where real people are obliged to take on political duties

“Mother #*^%er.” “What’s wrong?” “Sigh. Just got this in the mail. It says I have to be president this year.”

This is not as far-fetched as it would seem:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

The ancient Greeks pretty much appointed magistrates and others by lottery, and every citizen participated in a very direct democracy.

The Greeks saw this as a counter to oligarchy. I'm not sure that today's federal government is very far off from oligarchical tendencies.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#82

Post by snapetom »

incanus77 wrote: post #30
Miraste wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was unpopular for a number of other reasons, some of which were just bad luck. Inflation was high, the economy was poor, there was a massive oil shortage, and the Iranian hostage crisis went poorly. There were a lot of smaller issues too, like the 55mph speed limit. While he had good intentions and was far more forward thinking than other presidents, he wasn’t an adept administrator and didn’t manage to get buy-in…

> he wasn’t an adept administrator I can't find too much on this now except for the fact it happened, but initially Carter decided to buck tradition and not have a chief of staff, preferring instead a more level cabinet that could come to him as needed. I can't remember where I heard/read/saw this analysis, but it was cited as a major faux pas which led to him being completely inundated with competing priorities. The…

Chris Matthews touches on this and other examples in Hardball. Carter is a great man, but just wasn't a very suave politician. Another example Matthews cites was getting rid of the presidential yacht. Sure it made for a few good public points, but it handicapped Carter in losing a historically valuable tool for many informal handshake political deals.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#83

Post by ren_engineer »

woodruffw wrote: post #24
wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

Most US presidents (with a few conspicuous exceptions) experience post-presidential "glow": they become folksy pater familarum in the public's eye. Carter has experienced this more than most, in parts because (1) he's lived longer than every other president to have left office, and (2) he was widely perceived as being kind and genteel, too kind and genteel, while in office. Carter seems to be a genuinely good and kin…

>is greatest achievement on the domestic side is probably establishing the Department of Education (no mean feat!)

going by pretty much every objective metric this has been a disaster for the US school system with how it changed teaching to be about hitting certain federally defined goals rather than actually teaching students

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#84

Post by starkd »

Waterluvian wrote: post #33
Miraste wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was unpopular for a number of other reasons, some of which were just bad luck. Inflation was high, the economy was poor, there was a massive oil shortage, and the Iranian hostage crisis went poorly. There were a lot of smaller issues too, like the 55mph speed limit. While he had good intentions and was far more forward thinking than other presidents, he wasn’t an adept administrator and didn’t manage to get buy-in…

A classic problem in politics: We need leaders because everyday people are often not informed or interested in the boring but important things. The sober choices that are often right but unsatisfying. But then a lot of us want our leaders to obsess over the little, inconsequential things we find to be important. And then we end up wondering if a candidate is someone you could have a beer with, and the exceptional can…

I often wish we could abolish 24/7 cable news altother. When breaking news happens, we hear the same breaking news headline for the next 24 hours like it is a new event.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#85

Post by sammalloy »

starkd wrote: post #71
wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

He was a very young president, and since he had an engineering background, he tended to get stuck in the weeds. There are stories of him micro-managing affairs, involving himself in affairs that should have been left to low-level staff. And he had a terrible speaking ability. It was not uncommon to walk away from his comments not knowing just what he had said. As with many, he has mellowed with age. His humanitarian…

> And he had a terrible speaking ability. It was not uncommon to walk away from his comments not knowing just what he had said.

I’ve listened to hours of Carter talking and never once had this impression.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#87

Post by 0xDEF »

nivenkos wrote: post #37
wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

He funded and armed the Mujahideen in Operation Cyclone though - which has literally caused endless trouble with the rise of radical Islam. So it wasn't all "world peace".

This is a rather wrong view on who exactly the West supported in Afghanistan.

The Mujahideens the West supported became the Northern Alliance. The NA allowed girls to go to school. The NA was also allied with Iran and didn't persecute the Shia population of Afghanistan.

Unfortunately the NA lost the later Afghan civil war to the Saudi/Pakistan backed Taliban.

Also the rise of radical Islam has more to do with Arab countries and Israel than a Central Asian country that is culturally and geopolitically more connected to India than the Middle East.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#88

Post by starkd »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #74
Miraste wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was unpopular for a number of other reasons, some of which were just bad luck. Inflation was high, the economy was poor, there was a massive oil shortage, and the Iranian hostage crisis went poorly. There were a lot of smaller issues too, like the 55mph speed limit. While he had good intentions and was far more forward thinking than other presidents, he wasn’t an adept administrator and didn’t manage to get buy-in…

Glad you highlighted the luck part. The hostage crisis really did him in, despite the fact that, in the end, he actually negotiated to get all the hostages back safely, with the Algiers Accords being signed minutes after Reagan was inaugurated.

Well, it could also be argued that the Iranians only came to the table in the end, because they knew they were not going to get nearly as much from Reagan administration than they would with Carter. Of course, Reagan was all to glad for Carter to wind it up before he took office

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#89

Post by Der_Einzige »

Maursault wrote: post #54
Miraste wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was unpopular for a number of other reasons, some of which were just bad luck. Inflation was high, the economy was poor, there was a massive oil shortage, and the Iranian hostage crisis went poorly. There were a lot of smaller issues too, like the 55mph speed limit. While he had good intentions and was far more forward thinking than other presidents, he wasn’t an adept administrator and didn’t manage to get buy-in…

President Carter solved inflation, and it cost him the election, and President Reagan got the credit. Carter appointed Paul Volcker, an inflation hawk, as Fed chair in 1979. Volcker solved inflation by raising interest rates, causing two recessions, one of which was during Carter's re-election year. Reagan kept Volcker on for a short time before firing him, but Volcker got the job done, so it was President Carter tha…

FDR first (and the first lady) then Carter re: canonization.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#90

Post by swarnie »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #64
jasonhansel wrote: post #42

Over time, I think it's increasingly clear that our country made a horrible mistake in the 1980 election. Whatever happens, Carter's legacy will only continue to improve.

I naively don't know why you say that.

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+presidents&rlz=1C1ONGR_en...

I struggle to find a genuinely good one since Carter.

To summarise his successors:

Hollywood

World police

Junior staff suck

World police (this time its personal)

Change has come but not really

Budget Hollywood + Crack for breakfast

We ran out of ideas

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